Biomass at Vattenfall

Biomass is a renewable energy source that can be used to produce both heat and electricity. It plays a key role in reducing CO2 emissions from existing coal power plants by co-firing and producing green heat.

Over 15 of Vattenfall's installations are powered entirely or partially by biomass. They are located in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands. In recent years, we commissioned the CHP Märkisches Viertel and started co-firing operation in Moabit– both plants are situated in Berlin, Germany.

Vattenfall is planning a new heating plant in Uppsala, Sweden, in which peat and oil will be replaced by biomass and biofuels. The aim is to significantly reduce carbon emissions in Uppsala and secure future supplies of carbon-neutral heat, cooling and steam. The aim is to take a definitive investment decision in 2018.

Local and international supply activities

We often use locally sourced fuels like wood chips, forest residues and sawmill by-products, landscape conservation material and compost residues.

In cooperation with farmers from Brandenburg and the western part of Poland, the Vattenfall subsidiary Energy Crops GmbH operates over 2,000 hectares of energy wood plantations - also called short-rotation coppice (SRC) - with fast-growing tree species, mostly poplars and some willow. The trees are planted for a period of up to 20 years and can be harvested every two to four years. The regionally anchored and long-term secured supply of wood from own plantations is an important building block of the fuel supply of our heating installations in Berlin.

At Vattenfall we also conduct biomass supply and trading activities. The focus is on internationally traded standardised products as pellets (both, industrial and residential) and wood chips, originating from Europe, the US and Canada.

To ensure biomass for energy leads to meaningful CO2 reduction, cultivation and production must be carried out in a controlled, sustainable manner. Vattenfall continuously improves the checks and balances it has in place to ensure the biomass we use is sustainable. Vattenfall is a member of the Sustainable Biomass Partnership. We also support legally binding EU criteria for the sustainability of biomass as currently discussed in relation to the revision of the EU Renewable Energy Directive.

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About Vattenfall

Vattenfall is a European energy company with approximately 20,000 employees. For more than 100 years we have electrified industries, supplied energy to people's homes and modernised our way of living through innovation and cooperation. We now want to make fossil-free living possible within one generation.